WND EXCLUSIVE

Kidnapping bears marks of Islamists

Authorities investigating disappearance of aid worker in Kenya

Michael Carl is a veteran journalist who served overseas in the U.S. Army. He has operated his own political consulting firm and worked as a press secretary for a vice presidential candidate. He also has two master's degrees, is a bi-vocational priest and lives with his family in the Northeast United States.

Analysts say the recent kidnapping of an aid worker in Kenya, who apparently is being held for ransom, has the marks of al-Shabaab, a group of Islamists who have terrorized the region of Africa that also includes Somalia.

Authorities say the relief worker, Julia Juincy, of the U. S. Agency for International Development, was taken when her car broke down while she was traveling from Garissa to Habesein in northern Kenya.

Police spokesman Emmanuel Chiluma reported that Juincy called to say she was leaving Garissa, but never arrived at her destination. Her car was found along the highway.

Detectives say her cell phone has been traced to the Kenyan village of Nkubu.

International Christian Concern’s Africa analyst William Stark says the incident bears the marks of the Islamist group.

“Al-Shabaab has been known to kidnap Western aid workers and did so in October of 2011,” Stark said. “That’s one of the factors which prompted Kenya to make a military incursion into Somalia.”

“It seems that al-Shabaab took this woman because they want to hold her hostage and make some money,” Stark said.